Engineering Seismology

Institution:
Middle East Technical University, Ankara
Specialisation:
ES
Term:
Fall 2010
Teacher(s):
GUNDOGAN AYSEGUL ASKAN, AKKAR SINAN
Credits:
6
Date (from - to):
01/09/2010 – 31/12/2010

Topics to be covered include:

  • Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics;
  • Seismometry;
  • Seismic Waves – Overview;
  • Seismic Source (Important Source Parameters; Source Spectrum; Scaling Laws);
  • Path and Site Effects – Overview;
  • Prediction and Simulation of Strong Ground Motion (Empirical Approaches; Mathematical Modeling Techniques);
  • Seismic Hazard Analysis;
  • Relevance to Building Codes.

The presentation of the topics is tailored to the needs of earthquake engineers.

Suggested readings:

The instructor gives reading assignments from many papers. The following text books are also covered in some of the course topics stated above: An introduction to seismology, earthquakes, and earth structure by Seth Stein and Michael Wysession, Blackwell Publishing; Introduction to seismology, Peter M. Shearer,  Cambridge University Press;  Plate tectonics: how it works by Allan Cox and Robert Brian Hart,  Blackwell Science; Of poles and zeros: fundamentals of digital seismology by Frank Scherbaum, Kluwer Academic Publishers; Fundamentals of geophysics by William Lowrie, Cambridge University Press; Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Steven L. Kramer, Prentice Hall; Earthquake hazard analysis, Leon Reiter, Columbia University Press.

Notes:

Number of exams: one term exam and one final exam.